Microsoft may have bought Nokia's smartphone business, but apparently it didn't lock many of its key personnel to long term contracts. Today, Nokia's Lumia photography leader Ari Partinen has announced he will start working at Apple in June.

Today will be my last day working for the amazing #Lumia family. In June I will start a new chapter in Cupertino, California. Much love!

Partinen posted word on his new employer via his Twitter feed by writing that he will be starting "a new chapter in Cupertino, California" and later confirmed his hiring by Apple in a subsequent tweet.

Partinen started working at Nokia in 2007 and was one of the senior engineers behind the creation of its PureView camera technology. It has since become a big part of the Lumia smartphone lineup, offering those Windows Phone devices superior photo hardware and software, including the 41 megapixel camera that was put into the Lumia 1020.

His decision to work at Apple has to be considered a blow to Microsoft. The folks at Redmond would certainly like for as many of the people who worked on the Lumia phones to stick with the new owners for as long as possible.